Intermittent fasting is a popular weight-loss strategy. Proponents claim that it speeds up your metabolism and helps you lose more weight than traditional calorie restriction diets. Let’s explore this topic further in the following article.
What is intermittent fasting?
Intermittent fasting (or IF) is a kind of diet in which you cycle between periods of eating and not eating. Some people fast every day, while others do it just a few times per week. And some alternate eating only one day per week.
If you do intermittent fasting, you’ll have to follow a schedule that includes specific times to eat (and not eat). You can consume any type of food during your eating window, but keep in mind that some foods are better for weight loss than others.
Fasting is not the same as skipping meals or starving yourself. Instead, it’s eating what you want, when you want, in the quantities that fit your budget and tastes.
Intermittent fasting has been shown to have many health benefits, including weight loss for obese females.
What are the types of intermittent fasting?
Intermittent fasting (or IF) means different things to different people. The different types of intermittent fasting are:
- Alternate day fasting- When you alternate days fasting, you eat regularly for some days of the week and fast on other days. For example, you might take in calories on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday but fast on Tuesday and Thursday. In this way, you can “fast” for 24 hours twice a week.
- 16:8-The 16:8 diet is also called the 8-hour diet or the meal-skipping diet. This type of intermittent fasting requires you to restrict you’re eating to an eight-hour window each day (usually from lunchtime to late evening). However, you are not required to skip any meals during this time.
- Alternate-day modified fasting- With the alternate-day modified fasting diet, you eat a reduced number of calories on “fasting” days and take in about 25% of your average daily calories on nonfasting days. For example, if you usually eat about 2,000 calories per day, you would reduce your calorie intake to about 500 calories on your fasting days. On nonfasting days, you would maintain a regular diet.
- The 5:2 diet- This type of intermittent fasting follows the same schedule as the alternate day modified fast: You eat 25% of your average daily calories on fasting days and maintain a regular diet on nonfasting days. But unlike alternate day modified fasting, you reduce your calorie intake by about 500 to 600 calories per day instead of 25%.
- 5 The Warrior diet- This type of intermittent fasting is similar to the 5:2 diet in that you restrict calorie intake five days per week. However, you also have one day each week when you eat whatever amount of food you want—just like a regular diet.
- 6 The Eat Stop Eat diet- This type of intermittent fasting is similar to the 5:2 diet in that you restrict calorie intake on your fasting days (once every 24 hours). However, on your nonfasting days, you can eat twice as many calories as you would normally.
The benefits of intermittent fasting are:
- intermittent fasting helps to lose weight.
- Increase your energy and stamina for work out.
- Improve healthy cholesterol levels.
- It makes the immune system strong and disease-free.
- 5 reduces blood sugar and blood pressure level.
Is intermittent fasting better than traditional dieting?
Some research shows that intermittent fasting can be an effective way to lose weight and improve health. In fact, intermittent fasting has been shown to cause more weight loss than traditional dieting. Intermittent fasting is particularly good for those who don’t like to count calories or weigh their food.
Three reasons why intermittent fasting can lead to more weight loss:
- greater weight loss over time.
- increased fat breakdown.
- fat oxidation or burning of fat for energy (instead of carbohydrates).
Why is weight loss harder for women than men?
There are a number of reasons why weight loss might be harder for women than men. One of the main ones is that, in general, women have less muscle mass and lower exercise capacity than their male counterparts. This means that they will burn fewer calories per pound of bodyweight because they move around less. The decrease in calorie requirements is significant enough to outweigh any differences created by activeness in utilizing those calories on account of higher levels of fat tissue. The main factor preventing weight loss in women is fat distribution. The male body has more subcutaneous fat (fat deposited just under the skin) than females, and so it responds better to exercise-induced weight loss. The female body stores a lot of weight as visceral or abdominal fat, which is not easy to get rid of with dieting alone; aerobic exercise and strength training are the best ways for women to reduce their danger cellulite. However, intermittent fasting is proving an effective option for women who are looking for weight loss.
What studies say about intermittent fasting and weight loss.
There have been only a few studies looking specifically at the effects of intermittent fasting on weight loss, but they seem to confirm what we’ve been hearing for years:
In a study done in 2014, researchers compared the number of pounds lost after six months in obese people who either followed a daily calorie-restricted diet or did an alternate day modified fast (with 25% of their calories on fasting days). In addition, a study on Weight Loss for Women in Spokane has also shown results in favor of intermittent fasting. The conclusion was that weight loss was greater in the intermittent fasting group than in the calorie-restricted diet group.
Intermittent fasting is an effective way to lose weight. It improves the health and immunity of a person. There are no side effects of this dieting method. Intermittent fasting helps you feel energetic throughout your day and fit in your favorite dress on that special occasion.
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